The Constable hasn't been sighted in the office since lunch today, when he said that he is going to duck out for fried chicken for lunch. Not sure what spurned this sudden interest in fried chicken, but the Constable is a man of (i) sudden passions and (ii) prone to impulsive decision making, so who knows where he could be. Regardless, I get to do the PreStros today.
Summary
* Mixed day for the affiliates, going 3-2, and running the record to 170-146.
* Oklahoma City lost on a walk off.
* Corpus played well to beat Frisco with a solid win.
* Lancaster got whipped.
* Quad Cities was rained off... for once.
* Tri-City won a tight one.
* Greeneville walked off on a strikeout in the bottom of the tenth.
Oklahoma City (42-36)
Oklahoma City started well, entering the middle of the third up 3-0. However, Tacoma (35-41) tied the game by the bottom of the fourth, and the game was scoreless until the bottom of the tenth, when Tacoma scored the only run they needed. Oklahoma City loses, 4-3.
Bump: Our campaign to "start the Trop at the Trop" failed, and "start the Jake at the Trop" did not sound quite as good, so we didn't push for that. Regardless, the net effect is that Nick Tropeano got the start, and did... ok. His line: 5.2IP, 6H, 3R/ER, 3BB, 7K. He was pulled with two men on after 105 pitches, so it is likely the introduction of the bullpen wasn't just related to pitch counts. Anyhow, the relief corps of Pat Urckfitz (1.1IP, H), Alex White (1IP, H, 2K) was nails until Kevin Chapman (1.2IP, H, R/ER, BB, 3K) allowed the walk off. The tenth went thusly: walk, wild pitch - runner to second, groundout - runner to third, strikeout swinging, single. Some odd shenanigans, as L.J.Hoes was suddenly replaced mid-inning by Matt Duffy, which doesn't make much sense unless there was an injury.
Plate: Little Jerome Hoes was the standout offensive performer, going 1-3, 2BB, 2B, R, RBI. Marc Krauss did ok: 1-4, BB, 2B, 2RBI. Erik Castro had two hits (2-3, 2B), and Ronald Torreyes had a double (1-4, 2B, 2R).
Man of the Match: L.J.Hoes, playing CF for the RedHawks had a good night. Last 10 games: .487/.565/.590. Jus' sayin'.
Corpus Christi (36-40)
Corpus has started to show signs of life recently, and today that continued tonight against Frisco (42-32). They got up early (2-0 after 3), allowed one back in the fifth, but scored in the seventh and eighth to round out a 4-1 win. Plus, Joey Gallo didn't homer (0-4, 3K). Bonus!
Mound: Getting the start was nasty, horrible Luis Cruz, who was at his nasty, horrible best. 7IP, 4H, R/ER, BB, 4K. Solo home run allowed to Teodoro Martinez, CF. Jordan Jankowski was nails in relief: 2IP, H, 2K.
Plate: All RBI's came on players that hit extra-base hits. Leo Heras (1-4, HR), Jiovanni Mier (2-3, HR) and Telvin Nash (1-3, HR) all hit solo homers, and MP Cokinos (3-4, 2B, RBI) hit a double.
Man of the Match: Luis Cruz is my new man-crush. He is short (5-9) and left handed, and has dominated in four out of his last five starts (and seven of his last ten).
Corpus starts their All Star Break tomorrow. They have a day off, then the All Star Game, then are straight back into it in a three game set versus Springfield.
Lancaster (46-28)
Lancaster's dominance of Lake Elsinore (42-32) at home ended last night, and the new status quo is Lake Elsinore hanging big innings on Lancaster pitching. The game was evenly poised at 4-2 going into the eighth, then Lake Elsinore scored seven runs to put the game beyond doubt. The JetHawks made two errors leading to seven unearned runs (both errors were throwing errors by the pitchers), but Lancaster loses, 11-2.
Mound: Another less-than-inspiring start for Mark Appel, who must be really concerning the Astros brass. His line: 5IP, 6H, 4R/3ER, 2K, HR. The hits, home runs and lack of strikeouts must be really concerning. Brian Holmes had an interesting night: 2.2IP, 7H, 7R/1ER, 2K. Patrick Christensen (0.1IP, H, BB, K) got the last out while allowing the one inherited runner score.
Plate: Teoscar Hernandez continues to display his tools: 2-4, 2x2B, SB. Jack Mayfield was also on base twice (1-3, BB, 2B, RBI). Little else happened.
Man of the Match: Lets go with Teoscar Hernandez. He has been really solid all season (.299/.375/.568 for someone who is 1.7 years less than the league average), and has been pretty good his last ten games (.333/.380/.622). Very interesting prospect, according to Baseball Prospectus in this free link.
Quad Cities (36-36)
Rain. Again.
Tri-City (6-4)
Tri-City managed a tight away win over a Lowell (5-5) squad. Tri-City opened the scoring in the first, Lowell tied it up in the fourth, and Tri-City re-took the lead in the top of the sixth with another lone run. Tri-City wins, 2-1.
Mound: Sebastian Kessay was dealing to start with, striking out 7 of the first 9 hitters he faced. His line: 4IP, 2H, R/ER, 8K. Francis Ramirez pitched 2.2 solid innings (3H, BB, 4K) to start the scoreless relief effort. Derick Velazquez and Chris Munnelly finished it, with 2.1 combined innings of hitless relief, with Velazquez recording the final out of the 7th via strikeout with runners on the corners. Tri-City pitchers: 13K versus 1BB/5H.
Plate: Marc Wik went 0-3, 2BB, R at the top of the order. A.J. Reed went 1-4, RBI, and J.D.Davis went 1-2, BB, 3B, R. Davis' lead off triple eventually resulted in the go-ahead run being scored.
Man of the Match: Lets go with the pitching corps, who allowed six base runners while striking out 13 Spinners.
Greeneville (2-2)
Greeneville, like the Yale inmates, beat Princeton (2-2) in extras. Greeneville started the scoring with one in the bottom on the first - Princeton replied with two in the top of the third. No more scoring occurred until the bottom of the eighth, where Greeneville scored two more, to take a 3-2 lead. Princeton sent it into extras in the top of the ninth, but Greeneville walked off in the bottom of the tenth with third-out strikeout, then a catcher's throwing error, which allowed the runner to score from second.
Mound: Jose Montero started, and did well, going 5IP, 3H, 2R/ER, 2BB, 7K. Agapito Barrios followed up with four solid innings (5H, R/ER, 6K), and Zach Davis got the win while striking out the side (IP, H, BB, 3K). As a unit - 16K versus 3BB
Plate: Trent Woodward was the standout performer (3-5, R), but Ramon Laureano was not far behind (2-4, BB). Jason Martin had a triple (1-5, 3B, R), and Dayne Parker was on base twice (1-4, BB). Conner Goedart had the other RBI - 1-4, 2B, RBI.
Man of the Match: I am most impressed, again, with the combined effort of the pitchers. Hence the reason the MoTM trophy lies in three bits. Well done, guys.
Thank you all for reading, hope this has been helpful.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
